Newsom donor's cannabis farm under federal investigation for 'child labor violations'
The President of Glass House Farms, the cannabis farm that federal immigration authorities raided in California on Thursday despite protests, has donated thousands to Democrats in California.
Co-founder, president, and board director Graham Farrar, who self-identifies on social media as residing in Santa Barbara, California, has made numerous political donations to the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee’s federal political action committee and Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., according to
Federal Election Commission records.
According to California
public campaign finance records, he also donated $10,000 to California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2018, and his most recent public political donation was to California Democratic Assemblymember Gregg Hart in July 2023.
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott tweeted that the farm is "now under investigation for child labor violations" and the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News on Friday that nine unaccompanied children in the U.S. illegally were rescued.
"So glad our law enforcement could rescue another child," DHS Assistant Secretary
Tricia McLaughlin stated.
Glass House Brands said in a statement that they complied with the federal warrants issued.
"Yesterday, Glass House Brands received immigration and naturalization warrants. As per the law, we verified that the warrants were valid and we complied. Workers were detained and we are assisting to provide them legal representation," the company tweeted.
"Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors. We do not expect this to affect operations moving forward. We will provide additional details when applicable."
"Know there are lots of questions, we have a lot of them too, as we get more information we will update. Our team has been continually on site and we are focused on taking care of our people and our plants,"
Farrar posted to X.
Farrar’s X feed also shows him retweeting Republicans, such as former Rep. Matt Gaetz, in support of cannabis policy reforms.
Protesters clashed with federal authorities in Camarillo on Thursday during an immigration operation. Federal authorities had a warrant for illegal employees, Fox News has learned. Another raid also occurred at another Glass House Farm in Carpinteria.
In addition, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said the FBI has offered a $50,000 award for information leading to the conviction of an unknown suspect who appeared to fire a pistol at federal law enforcement officers near Camarillo.
People were seen confronting the agents, who used tear gas and smoke bombs. Federal personnel used gas to push back protesters who arrived on the scene after getting word of a raid.
Military helicopters were also seen flying low over the fields, a maneuver generally used to flush out people hiding.
"It is becoming increasingly apparent that the actions taken by ICE are bold and aggressive, demonstrating insensitivity towards the direct impact on our community," Luis Mc Arthur, the mayor of nearby Oxnard, said in a social media post. "These actions are causing unnecessary distress and harm. I remain committed to working alongside our Attorney General and the Governor’s office to explore potential legal avenues to address these activities."
When the governor was asked his thoughts on the footage of somebody firing a gun at federal authorities by right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok, Newsom replied "Of course I condemn any assault on law enforcement, you sh* poster. Now do Jan 6."
"California prosecutes child exploiters and traffickers. Trump tear-gasses children, rips them from their parents, and deports farmworkers. Priorities," Newsom tweeted in response to Scott's post about the child labor allegations against the farm.
Fox News reached out to Glass House and Newsom.
